Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Many times, as long as you understand the key point of something, the rest falls into place.

Sui Xiong was feeling so then.

He completely understood what the problem of his school was, and had also found a solution.

His mistake was that he brought over all his experience from Earth, building a school that was based purely on cultural education. Such a school would of course efficiently produce "intellectuals." But it could only produce "intellectuals."

One needed to know that on Earth, it was not enough to learn only cultural knowledge. In order to make a mark in society, a person needed to receive follow-up education. Regardless of learning specialized skills, or professional knowledge. In short, one needed to possess professional skills in order to settle down and become someone who could support themselves.

But in his school, there were no subjects teaching professional skills. So of course, all the students were a bunch of scholars.

This was just like times in ancient China when there was a long period of time where they had selected talents through article writing. It even became as bad as people being abled-bodied but not being able to differentiate between the five grains. As a result, most of the selected officers were not reliable. Lots of peculiar things happened. Even he, as a person who was not interested in history, knew that much. And the key to that problem? The lack of professional knowledge!

Try to imagine if ancient Chinese imperial examinations had the requirement for professional skills and knowledge on top of cultural knowledge. Every selected talent would have to have additional skills in agricultural, industrial, mathematics etc, besides reading and writing articles. What would happen then?

Sui Xiong was not sure, but he had seen those historical traversing novels. Many great authors were also doing that. There must be a reason to it.

Yup. If there was only one person who wrote it, that could be nonsense; but everyone wrote the same, so it must be reasonable!

Furthermore, as long as a person had professional knowledge, it would be much easier for him to find a job in society. Just like the few clones he made before. Even if he was only good at cooking, he was enough to be a good enough chef. It was enough to let him be a skilled person who had a place in the world.

Yeah! Let's do this!

He was fully motivated, thinking which skill school to begin first.

Excavator? Impossible!

Computer? Nonsense!

Chef? This is not bad, but a little troublesome to teach. Anyway, I'll just keep it as an alternative.

Accounting? This is great! This is it!

The businesses in this world are quite well developed. There must be a substantial demand for accountants, especially high-level accountants. Whether it is a store or a noble family, or even a slightly larger group of traveling businessmen, they will need an accountant!

In fact, any organization that has a money operation would need an accountant! Accountants are irreplaceable and an important career in modern society.

Not only that, but education in accounting was relatively easy. A teacher could teach many students, and they would not need specialized teaching materials. They were almost completely dealing with numbers. The school right now could meet the needs; there was no need to alter anything.

Once he thought about it, he could not help but laugh out loud.

"What exactly is that 'skilled school'?" Yorgaardman felt very curious as he watched him laughing proudly. Then he quietly thought hard for half a day, and suddenly laughed out loud again.

"The details are pretty complicated. To put it simply, it is a place to teach humans crafts," Sui Xiong said. "My initial plan is to build an accounting school."

"Accounting? Counting ledgers?" Yorgaardman was stunned for a while. "Is there such a need to train them? Back then I did not even know a word, and I could still do well in society…"

"No, it is necessary!" Javier's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly. "This is a great idea! If you train accountants in large batches, there will surely be a demand amongst the nobles and businessmen! By that time, I am afraid that there will be nobles and lordlings contacting and recruiting outstanding students even before they graduate!"

"Is this completely exaggerated?" Morani spoke doubtfully. "I remember back when I was still in the Orc army, I had not seen any accountants…"

"That was because you had none! Orcs are just a bunch of cultureless barbarians!" Javier said impolitely. "If the requirement allows, there should be an accountant in every department, every independently stationed army; even down to every 100-person team, every village. All should have an accountant!"

He was excited for a while. Slowly he calmed down, but then suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yeah. I guess the accounting job is related to God of Wealth, so you'd better speak to Her first."

Sui Xiong nodded and immediately sent a clone to the God of Wealth's Holy Kingdom.

The God of Wealth's Holy Kingdom was named "The River of Gold." It was built in the emptiness of the Material Realm, far away within the Ring of the World. It was at the border between Material Realm and Spiritual Realm. There were steep mountains everywhere and a golden river that ran through it. The mountains represented the difficulties in obtaining wealth, and the golden river represented wealth itself. The holy temple for the God of Wealth was suspended in the air high above the golden river, overlooking the believers who were trekking through the fields of mountains, or laughing in the golden river.

Due the reviving of Garth City and relief work from before, the relationship between the Void Mask Church and the Golden Royal Crown (or God of Wealth) Church was quite good. Hence, when Sui Xiong visited, he was well received by the God of Wealth. She even brought her oracles along and welcomed Sui Xiong's arrival from outside of the Holy Kingdom.

Speaking of the God of Wealth, Sui Xiong could not help but talk about Her appearance. He really could not understand this God's aesthetic values, as this Goddess had turned Herself into a fat woman who was more like a lump of meat. When She walked, not only Her chest and stomach but also the fat on Her arms and thighs all trembled. He could not help but think of a news piece about the "golden beauty" (a 1100 pound American woman) on Earth.

Her image was so ugly. It was no wonder that although She was a Goddess, no one called Her "Goddess of Wealth;" they only called Her "God of Wealth."

With such a terrifying appearance, it really was not suitable to go by the name of "Goddess".

"Your Majesty of the Golden Royal Crown; don't you feel troublesome and inconvenient having a body so fat?" He could not refrain himself from asking.

"Why does it matter what we as Gods look like?" the God of Wealth replied with a smile. "My believers all think that fat is the symbol of being rich. Only when they have money can they eat until they become fat. As the receiver of their beliefs, it is only natural for me to be a fatty. And I must be super duper fat, so I can represent the classiness of wealth."

"…The classiness of wealth can be presented by dressing up; there is no need to get this fat."

"Dress up? I already have a very suitable outfit." The God of Wealth smiled as Her body shone brightly. She had put on a golden dress that was blinding.

It was not clear how many golden threads and jewels were used on this dress, but it was not classy at all. It was purely gilded with wealth, filled with the style of local tyrants, and it left people feeling amazing.

"…If you don't mind, would you let me design an image for you?" Sui Xiong said. He tried to keep this to himself several times, but he could not stop himself from speaking. As a visual artist who sought perfection, an aesthetic worker whose life work was focused on designing and drawing, he could not accept this type of low-grade style!

The God of Wealth was taken aback, but She did not refuse. She really wanted to find out what kinds of things this rising star amongst all Gods could design for her. After all, he was famous for his fighting skills and weird ideas.

After a while, Sui Xiong's design draft was completed.

Looking at the draft, the God of Wealth's eyes lit up.

The woman in the picture was slightly chubby, but it did not feel like she was fat at all. Instead, there was a feeling of friendliness and warmth, an aura that let people feel She was trustworthy. She wore a set of clothes that were decorative but not so extravagant. The design reflected generosity and steadiness, and an exquisite texture. There were a few accessories on the shoulder and chest areas that were gorgeously dazzling. All these created a temperament that was rich and classy, making people feel that this lady was a big shot with money and social status.

With a wave of Her hand, the God of Wealth used Her Divine Powers to bring the image on the sketch out into the air and turned it into a three-dimensional image.

Her Oracles and superior believers all looked intensely on the image. They praised it generously.

"Very good! Very good! This is really good!" The God of Wealth was impressed and praised continuously as well. She could not contain her happiness.

Although a God could be changed by their believers' faith, thinking and character remained from before they were turned into Gods. Maybe the God of Wealth could actually accept Herself being as fat as a lump of meat that weighed tons, but since there was a prettier image as an option, She would choose the prettier image!

There could be women who never paid attention to beauty, but there would seldom be a woman who fought against being beautiful!

The God of Wealth changed into the image that Sui Xiong designed as she was talking. She summoned a mirror, turning left and right. She carefully looked at herself. She smiled and laughed. Then She eagerly announced a God's order: that She had modified Her image and changed Her title to "Goddess of Wealth." She could not even wait for her believers to hold ceremonies. She turned all Her statues into Her current image using divine power.

If Sui Xiong had brought a gaming system with him right now, he would be able to see other people's properties. He would definitely see that the Goddess of Wealth's friendliness level towards him had risen from 60 to 80. They became best friends almost immediately.

"My friend, thank you for very much for this precious gift!" The graceful Goddess of Wealth smiled as prettily as a blooming peony. "This is the best gift I have received since becoming a God!"

Sui Xiong laughed before he finally remembered the official matter.

He quickly explained his original intention, emphasizing the "accountant" job, explaining it as detailed and as objectively as possible. Then he asked the Goddess of Wealth's opinion on this matter.

The Goddess of Wealth's eyes lit up again, this time even brighter than before.

"My friend! You just gave me a precious gift, and now you are giving me another, even more precious one!"

She almost jumped for joy. "This idea is really great! I will send believers who are best at accounting from my Holy Kingdom. Let them be teachers and they will surely train the best students!"

Sui Xiong smiled and nodded. Suddenly he remembered something. "Then, it is better if we add some more blessings and restrictions to the post. If an accountant is loyal to his duties, then he will receive your blessings, and his signature will be shiny whenever he signs. In turn, if he betrays his duties, his signature should lose its shine."

The Goddess of Wealth laughed out loud. She was very happy.

"My friend! I can already foresee that there will be an increase in accountants who are loyal to their duties, and the problem that had long bothered my believers' camp will start to improve… you have given me the best gift of all!"

Then, She turned to the sky and spoke loudly.

At the same time, the clone of Goddess of Wealth in the Pantheon Temple changed her face and stood up to pronounce Her oath in front of all the Gods.

"I, Maneez, the Goddess of Wealth, hereby swear that from this moment on I will form a formidable alliance with Oscar, His Highness of Void Mask. I will help Him with all my might no matter what difficulty and danger there is, as long as He has not betrayed me and I have not passed on!"